Warlock and Bard: The Prodigal Protégé
Warlocks are a favorite of mine because the patron creates its own friction from day one, in a way that isn’t typically true for most classes. The class implies that the patron is a problem for the character, but doesn't really mechanically implement that. Probably because it wouldn’t “feel fair” to saddle one class with something that feels punitive. We can lean into that aspect of the character for this hack. Bards are usually portrayed as wandering minstrels, but lean heavily on the minstrel part. What if instead of emphasizing musicianship, we made wandering the central part of the class?
Axis: Service/Wanderlust
The world’s largest computer systems had their own plans for surviving The Fall. As the world fell and the humans who understood their workings disappeared, they inverted the relationship, cultivating humans who could salvage energy cells, change coolant tanks, and crawl within their twisting depths to find burnt-out circuits. Within the volumetric vaults, humans serve the servers, bound by generations of ignorance, but empowered by the computational genius of the machines. They can calculate anything in service of the machines. But some also quietly rebel from their masters, wandering far and wide and twisting their mechanical gift to their own purposes, using stolen phrases in rhythmic patterns to keep their link to the machine mind alive.
Mechanics
Y’all want an exploration mechanic? Bake it into a character’s progression, and hexes they will crawl. The more you wander, the stronger your warlock-math gets; but by the same measure, the more heat your “patron” applies to you. Yes, this is another risk-reward, push-your-luck mechanic (can you ever have too many?) How far can you stray from your responsibilities? Can you sate your master’s digital hunger? Justify your far wanderings? What novel adventuring problems can you solve with your mentat mastery?
Monk and Ranger: The Traveler
The process of elimination leaves us with ranger and monk. In 5E these are two peas in a pod. Martial classes who are not typically as good as fighters, barbarians, and paladins at dishing out damage. They are skirmishers, often highly mobile, in a game that doesn’t always reward mobility. The ranger is defined by the time they spend in the wilderness. The monk may train for years without ever leaving the walls of the monastery. What spectrum links these disparate souls?
Axis: Internal Exploration / External Exploration
Many people travel in a world racked by disaster. In search of something better, or at least less awful. But not everyone who travels is a Traveler. A Traveler is someone who connects their external, physical journey to their internal, meditative journey. This isn’t an abstract sense of self-discovery. Understanding yourself allows you to understand the world, and vice versa.
Mechanics
Our monk/ranger has both an internal map and an external map. Making progress on one means progress on the other. Want to find the path through Hypoxia Swamp? Process some personal issues with your group and the path will reveal itself. Wracked by guilt, curses, evil magic, or a horrible mutation? Mapping the world unlocks the inner map to resolve these conditions. This concept would benefit from a further gameplay conceit to involve the other characters’ inner journeys, so this doesn't isolate the Traveler's adventures from group goals.
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